The Tube MKII is a balanced audio preamplifier from Einstein Audio Components. Innovating on the design of the original, MKII of The Tube features new ideas, circuitry and proprietary technology that Einstein hopes will make it stand out from the crowd.

It’s incredibly sleek, with a glossy black front panel and a simple dial on both the left and right sides of the unit. The Tube is a name that may throw people, as this preamplifier features a total of nineteed tubes. Eighteen of those are E88CC/6922 dual triode tubes, while the remaining one is a ECC82 dual triode. Only ten tubes in total run at once, eight for power and two for the source audio.

When an audio source is switched, so are the two audio tubes. This increases the life of the tubes of course, but also allows a great deal of customization, since each audio source has its own individual set of tubes. The Tube MKII is available now at an MSRP of $17,800 from authorized dealers, and will be showed at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.